As part of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, Israel agreed to release Palestinians held in Israeli prisons in exchange for the release of hostages taken by the militant group Hamas during the October 7, 2023, attack.
There is still no final agreement on which prisoners will be freed in exchange for the hostages, partly because it is unclear how many hostages will be freed or how many are still alive, Reuters reports.
There are currently 10,400 Palestinians in Israeli prisons, not including detainees arrested in Gaza during the last 15 months of the conflict, according to the Palestinian Detainee Affairs Commission and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society.
Abdullah al-Barghouti
In 2004, Barghouti was sentenced to 67 life terms by an Israeli military court for his involvement in a series of suicide attacks in 2001 and 2002 that killed dozens of Israelis. Barghouti prepared the explosive belts used in attacks, including the attack on the Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem, where 15 people died. Father of three children, he was born in Kuwait in 1972. In 1996, he moved with his family to the village of Beit Rima near Ramallah in the West Bank.
Ibrahim Hamed
Hamed, who was sentenced to 54 life sentences, was arrested in 2006 in Ramallah. Israel accuses him of planning suicide attacks that killed dozens of Israelis. Hamed, who was wanted by Israel for eight years before his arrest, was the commander-in-chief of the Izz el-Deen Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas in the West Bank. He has a degree in political science from Birzeit University near Ramallah.
Nael Barghouti
Born in 1957, Barghouti spent 44 years, or two-thirds of his life, in Israeli prisons – longer than any other Palestinian. He was imprisoned for the first time in 1978 for participating in an attack in which an Israeli soldier was killed in Jerusalem. He was released in 2011 as part of a deal in which Israel freed more than 1,000 Palestinians in exchange for soldier Gilad Shalit.
Hassan Salama
Born in the Khan Younis refugee camp in Gaza in 1971, Salama was sentenced to 48 life sentences for masterminding a wave of suicide attacks in Israel in 1996 that killed dozens of Israelis and wounded hundreds.
Marwan al-Barghouti
A prominent member of the Fatah movement, Barghouti is seen as a potential successor to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. He rose to fame as a leader and organizer during both Intifadas, Palestinian uprisings against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Ahmed Saadat
Saadat, the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), is accused by Israel of ordering the assassination of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi in 2001. In 2008, an Israeli military court sentenced him to 30 years in prison for his involvement in militant activities.
(Vijesti.ba)
